Hasmonean Dynasty

In this study, the political history of the Hasmonean Dynasty, which is a Jewish family that lived on all of the modern Israel and Palestinian States, as well as some parts of the Jordanian and Lebanese States, from the middle of the 2nd century BC to the middle of the 1st century BC. The family, which appeared on the stage of history with the movement known as the Maccabee Revolt in the literature, first turned into a dynasty, then had an autonomous structure and finally a politically independent state. The struggle of the family, which is a dependent group on the Seleucid State at the beginning, against the Seleucid State and the matter of the independence of the state that they have, are primarily examined. During the struggle, the relations of the family with the other great states of the period, like Rome, Ptolemy and Parth, were also explained. Other important questions related to the political history of the dynasty are the motives of the Jews who did not have the idea of political independence in their national consciousness and lived under the protection of other states for centuries, how the dynasty was successful, what internal and external factors were effective during the struggle, and the rare independent independence in Jewish history. And what reason is that the family, which succeeded in establishing one of the states, lost their sovereignty by experiencing failure in a short time. The mentioned problems have been tried to be explained within the scope of the sources that provide information about the period. In this context, it has been seen that the success of the family is not only related to their own struggles. Because the Seleucid State was dealing with other separatist movements that took place at more than one point in domestic politics and successive struggles for the throne in this period. In foreign policy, it is under pressure from the Parthian and Ptolemaic States, especially Rome. Benefiting from these preoccupations of the Seleucid State, the Hasmonean Family found a comfortable environment in the region. In addition, the family acts with the slogan of protecting the Jewish religion against pagan attacks, and this situation causes them to receive support among the Jewish people. However, it should be noted that the family did not desire to have an independent state as of the beginning of the Maccabee Revolt. The evolution of the movement to this point was realized thanks to the fact that the family realized that they could achieve some success in the situation in question, and therefore they saw what they could do. This is because they realize what they can do. And that happened because they could. Although there are some different opinions on the political independence of the dynasty, it has been put forward with the justifications that the said independence took place during the reign of John Hyrcanus. The Hasmonean Dynasty deviated considerably from its starting line, especially after achieving its political independence. Dynasty rulers, who began to be influenced by Hellenistic customs, lost popular support as a result of some practices that violated the Jewish religion. So much so that in a short time there were great popular uprisings against the rulers. The struggle for the throne, which started among the members of the Hasmonean Dynasty, was also very effective in the loss of regional dominance. Eventually, the dynasty lost its political independence with the domination of the region by the Roman State, which had oriented towards the East for a while, and lost its influence in the region with the emergence of another Roman-supported local dynasty. The Hasmonean Dynasty is very important in Jewish history in that it established one of the rare states that the Jews had in history. In this period, the innovations introduced into Jewish administrative, social and military life by the dynasty had great effects on Jewish life in the next period. In this respect, we characterize the history of the family as a period of reform in terms of Jewish history. In terms of world history, the family's relations with the great states of the Hellenistic period, Seleukos, Ptolemaios, Rome and Parthian states, fill some gaps related to the period and thus make it easier to understand. On the other hand, in the historical example of the Hasmonean Dynasty, it can be seen how an imperial state such as the Seleucid State gradually weakened and eventually disintegrated, and how a small state could gain its independence against an imperial power.